1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer, a printing method, a used amount acquiring method, a used amount acquiring system, a prepaid card, a control method of the printer, a print accounting method, and a program. More particularly, the present invention relates to a technique performing accounting for advance information previously paid when printing an image.
Moreover, the present invention relates to a printer, a used amount acquiring method, a program, and a used amount acquiring system for outputting a used amount showing an amount of use of the printer to the outside.
2. Related Art
An accounting method for copying machine proposed by Xerox company has been in common use in the office machine industry since the 20th century. As this accounting method, the following two methods have been selected.
These are (1) page-unit accounting by counter charge and (2) accounting through consumables sale by toner (ink) supply. In recent years, according to the advent of a printer for computers, there is a movement to change an accounting method itself from these account methods to new methods.
The first method is a method referred to as a Pay Per Print method, and this reproduces the above-described accounting method (1) proposed by Xerox company. A maker side supplies apparatuses and consumables to a market place without charge or in cheap price, and levies predetermined amount of money whenever print is performed by one page. According to this method, since an accounting base that is an origin of a profit is not linked with a price of consumables, consumables can be circulated in a price that lightens a burden imposed on a user, and further since accounting is performed every printed page, the user hardly has a loss.
However, this method has a problem related to “confirmation of process completion” such as how to recognize whether one-page print has been completed and how to assure whether this page has been surely printed. For example, when the printer is jammed during printing, the page must be excluded from an accounting target. Moreover, when toner (ink) is completely consumed before one-page print is competed, there are many issues to be inspected such as how to provide the recovery means or how to process accounting at that time.
Moreover, correspondence against unjust use is difficult. For example, in case of printing only one-page manuscript with an A4 size, since it cannot be considered that one-page print has been completed when print started by allotting the manuscript to either of facing two A4 pages on A3-size paper, a power source of the printer is cut at the time point at which the desired manuscript page has been completely printed (the time point at which one-half process for the A3 paper has been completed), and the printer paper is discharged from the printer, the printer is falsely utilized without charging a fee. Although there is also considered a method for analyzing data of a manuscript and charging a fee in a manuscript data unit in order to prevent this, the realization of this method is difficult because there is required a system that does not charge a fee when print output matter is not normally obtained due to paper jam and toner (ink) consumption described above and thus system construction for that purpose becomes extremely complicated.
Besides, there has been proposed some methods for charging a fee in a predetermined process unit as a Pay Per Process method rather than Pay Per Print method. For example, this is a method for accurately measuring an amount of consumption of consumables and charging a fee according to the measured result. Various ideas have been proposed for a method for measuring a used amount for toner or ink and charging a fee at a metered rate. In this method, since the accounting itself is performed according to the operation of process, consumables can be circulated in a price that lightens a burden imposed on a user, similarly to the case of Pay Per Print, and further the user hardly has a loss because accounting is performed every printed amount. Furthermore since a guaranteed unit is not required for one-page print output matter, it is necessary to have a complicated control system such as a system in a Pay Per Print method. As an existing proposed example related to a Pay Per Process method, there is known, for example, a method as described in Japanese Patent Application Publication 2002-215368.
This document discloses a method for charging a fee at a metered rate according to a used amount for a printer, specifically, for charging a fee according to a count number of dots for every color ink.
However, both a Pay Per Print method and a Pay Per Process method mutually have a problem that there is required a structure related to the return of profits according to circulation of consumables. In both methods, since a fee is received from a user after this print, a structure for collecting the fee must be created. A system of Xerox company adopts a method for equipping copying machine with an incremental counter and regularly checking the counter by a serviceman to ask a user for an amount of accounting or a method for online acquiring the counter value and asking a user for an amount of accounting instead of a visit of a serviceman.
The recent suggestion is mainly a method for charging a fee by the latter online check, and according to this, there is proposed a method for solving various problems of a Pay Per Print method by referring to a status log in a copying machine (for example, subtracting the count number corresponding to log when the log of paper jam is left).
Moreover, there must be considered a method for returning a profit according to the collected fee to an intermediary agent such as a dealer. In the above-described both methods, in order to manage which intermediary agent receives the collected fee, a system capable of managing what is ID of intermediary agent and who is an agent related to the collected amount of money according to the use of a predetermined printer must be constructed, managed, and maintained.
Although these problems are not a problem according to a configuration of a. printer itself, these problems cannot be ignored in view of the whole of a service system for supporting the successive use of printer. As a specific example, although a method for charging a fee is changed in what manner, the circulation of consumables must be realized so that a user can obtain the consumables sufficiently and easily in terms of usability. For example, a user is inconvenient in a state where an order is online performed when ink has been completely consumed and thus an article of order barely arrives at the orderer the next day or the day after next. As a method for solving a problem of such a circulation, there is proposed a system that predicts the day when consumables disappear and preliminarily promotes the purchase or informs a user of the fact. However, in order to operate such a prediction system, it is necessary to provide a structure that predicts the day when consumables disappear somewhere and also to provide a structure that gives some kind of alarm or services from consumables supplier side to a user according to the result. Therefore, a maintainable system capable of obtaining necessary consumables any time from the nearest dealer is the most ideal system. However, in case of the above-described both methods, since a profit is not generated by the only supply of consumables, the circulation of consumables does not become a profit. In order that the nearest dealer to a user is associated with the circulation of consumables, it is necessary to develop a new structure for promoting the circulation of consumables and bringing a profit to a dealer.